TRACK AND FIELD: Methacton girls jump out to lead at PAC-10 Championships

Methacton's Nikki Serratore leaps into the pit during a triple jump attempt during the Pioneer Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships Friday at Boyertown Area High School. Serratore won the event. (Photo by Barry Taglieber)

BOYERTOWN – Rob Ronzano could easily be one of those hard-to-please coaches nowadays when realizing his Methacton girls track program has done nothing but win, win and win some more over the last eight seasons.

Four straight Suburban One Conference division titles, four straight Pioneer Athletic Conference titles, and few if any noticeable disappointments or downers throughout the impressive run has made Ronzano one very happy but still quite demanding coach.

And he was all smiles Friday afternoon after the Warriors won three of the four events contested on the first day of the PAC-10 Track and Field Championships at Boyertown High School.

Sophomore Nicolette Serratore was the first to strike gold when she soared 11 inches beyond her previous best to capture the triple jump and set a new PAC-10 record. Junior Kara Steinke, as expected, ran away from everyone to take the 3,200. And, with the sun setting, the entire Methacton team sat and watched senior Kristin Beatty take the pole vault.

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The Serratore-Steinke-Beatty sweep alone accounted for 30 of the Warriors’ 58 points, nearly double the point production of Boyertown (21), Spring-Ford (20), Owen J. Roberts (20) and Perkiomen Valley (19) heading into Saturday’s marathon final session.

“We had a very good first day,” Ronzano said. “I don’t know if we could’ve asked for a better first day.

“Things went very well, maybe a little better than expected. Everyone finished higher or better than they were seeded, so we can’t be any happier.”

Serratore certainly couldn’t have been more pleased considering her triple jump of 37-11.75 was 11 inches – that’s right, 11 inches – better than her previous-best.

“I really wanted to hit 37 (feet), so I wasn’t expecting this,” said the personable Serratore, who made up for a second to former teammate Katie Catania last season by erasing the league mark of 37-8 set eight years ago by Pottsgrove’s Megan VanBuskirk.

“We’ve been working on my second stage (of the triple). That part was my biggest problem. I was always too short, so I had to work on bringing my knee higher.”

To say Serratore got it all right on her third jump would be an understatement. And she needed every bit the effort to hold off Owen J. Roberts’ Holly Sullivan, who also bettered the previous record with her 37-10 to take second.

Boyertown teammates Alexandra Heuer and Inga Maric finished third and fourth, respectively, while Perkiomen Valley’s Jen Maurer was fifth, and Methacton’s Aghina Marshall was sixth. OJR’s Caroline D’Angelo and Pope John Paul II’s Maddie Pence rounded out the Top Eight.

“I just didn’t think I went that far,” Serratore admitted. “I was really shocked.”

No one was surprised let alone shocked to see Steinke sprint into the lead from the outset, maintain the lead and ease across the finish line in 11:18.99 – or 13 seconds ahead of Pope John Paul II’s Molly McKeon – for the 3,200 gold.

“It was just good to get this (event) out of the way,” said Steinke, who’ll be heavily favored for another distance-double when she lines up for the 1,600 today.

Steinke’s seeded time was more than a half-minute faster than McKeon’s. But neither that nor the fact she’s been running well in front of everyone else for a second straight season lessened the challenge.

“Not really,” Steinke said. “I love running at this meet. You work hard all season to come here and run. There’s a lot of competition here, and that can only make you better.”

Perkiomen Valley’s Macey Tanseco denied Methacton a complete sweep of Friday’s final when she won the discus with a throw of 109-2. That was well over five feet better than runner-up Akunna Okere of Spring-Ford, while Methacton teammates Tejerra Ellis and Nura Gouda took third and fourth, respectively.

“I knew I had a good throw,” the junior explained after improving on her runner-up finish of a year ago. “I could feel it.

“I was hoping to get first this time. I wanted first, especially since (Okere) had thrown as far as I did this season.”

Tanseco will be tossing the javelin and looking for her third straight title in the shot put Saturday. But getting that first event out of the way – especially with a gold medal attached to it – was just fine for Vikings head coach Joe Petsko.

“Macey has been pretty consistent 109, 110 this season,” Petsko said. “So today was about par for her. She did a good job.”